Developing states vulnerable to cyber attacks, says UN

UNITED NATIONS - The developing countries are at higher risk of being the target of cyber attacks, a UN-led forum observed Friday where experts discussed ways to mitigate this phenomenon at the national and international levels. The economic impact and consequences of cyber attacks against critical physical infrastructure, banking system, national health systems, essential government and industry databanks and services could be extremely high, said Lazarous Kapambwe, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in his opening remarks at the Special Event on Cyber-security and Development that was held at UN Headquarters. Kapambwe stressed that because of the ubiquity of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in everyday life, the impact of cyber attacks is magnified, and appropriate measures to prevent them must be put into place. Cyber attacks have the potential for triggering inter-state and other conflicts which can put the entire development process at considerable risk. Developing countries, with relatively weak surveillance capacity are most vulnerable to such cyber attacks, he said. According to the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are six billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide and more than 2.3 billion people online, making ICTs a powerful tool to advance development.